Boy racers from three counties attended Mayo 'gathering'
The meeting heard that boy racer activity is a regular problem for the council and gardaí.
The road safety officer for Mayo said there was one Garda patrol car available to attend the scene of a congregation of up to 40 boy racers behind a Castlebar service station on Christmas Night.
Gary Smyth, road safety officer with Mayo County Council, told last week’s meeting of the council's Roads and Transportation Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) of the problems that Gardaí and the local authority are having with boy racers in the county. Mr Smyth was responding to a comment made by a business representative on the SPC, Cliona Boland, regarding noise levels caused by these drivers in Mayo towns.
Mr Smyth said on Christmas Night, a group of around 40 boy racers from Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon congregated at the back of Corrib Oil service station in Castlebar. There was just one Garda patrol car available to deal with this on the night, he said.
The road safety officer said the council is aware of ongoing issues with cars leaving tyre markings, or ‘donuts’ at several locations around the county such as Derrinumera on the Castlebar-Newport Road and in the vicinity of Mount Falcon outside Ballina.
Mr Smyth said the Gardaí are taking these issues on board but those involved in the activity are well-organised.
“These events are so well organised, they have spotters in place who can alert the other drivers if Gardaí are approaching,” he said.
